The 2020 Rice Football schedule has been set. Now we have the dates and the opponents the Owls will face in the season ahead.
Broadcast information will slowly be released as we get closer to the season. Right now it’s probably safe to assume the Owls will have games on a variety of ESPN properties, the NFL Network and CBS Sports Network, just like last season. For now, here’s what we know about the 2020 Rice Football schedule.
Week 1 | Sat. Sep. 5 | at Houston
Week 2 | Sat. Sep. 12 | vs Army
Week 3 | Sat. Sep. 19 | vs LSU (at NRG Stadium)
Week 4 | Sat. Sep. 26 | vs Lamar
Week 5 | Sat. Oct. 3 | at Marshall
Week 6 | Sat. Oct. 10 | vs UAB
Week 7 | Sat. Oct. 17 | BYE
Week 8 | Sat. Oct. 24 | vs MTSU
Week 9 | Sat. Oct. 31 | at Southern Miss
Week 10 | Sat. Nov. 7 | vs UTSA
Week 11 | Sat. Nov. 14 | at Louisiana Tech
Week 12 | Sat. Nov. 21 | at North Texas
Week 13 | Sat. Nov. 28 | vs UTEP
Early Thoughts
Last year Rice opened the season with a pair of Friday night games. The Owls will stick to Saturdays for the duration of the 2020 campaign. This year that includes Halloween night — be sure to bring your Owl costumes to Hattiesburg.
Most notably, Rice won’t have nearly as rigorous of a nonconference schedule as they did in 2019. Their 2019 opponents included Army, Wake Forest, Texas and Big 12 runner up Baylor. 2020 Features Houston, Army, LSU and Lamar. Swapping out two Power 5 teams for a cross-town rival and an FCS squad is huge, particularly in the context of postseason expectations. All four teams could be breaking in brand new starting quarterbacks. The best part? All four games are in Houston.
On the Conference-USA front, things set up extremely well. Rice gets to of their presumably tougher opponents right out of the gate, Marshall and UAB. After the Week 7 bye, Rice only plays two teams who finished better than .500 last season, Southern Miss and Lousiana Tech. The Rice defense, which returns the vast majority of its contributors, held both of those explosive offenses at bay.
More: 2019 Rice Football Season superlatives
Three of the other four games after the bye are at home, the other is against a North Texas team replacing Mason Fine and a large chunk of their coaching staff.
It’s early, but this doesn’t look like a murder’s row. For the most part, the 2020 Rice football schedule looks very manageable.
